When comparing nvALT vs Inkdrop, the Slant community recommends Inkdrop for most people. In the question“What is the best note taking app for Mac?” Inkdrop is ranked 5th while nvALT is ranked 10th. The most important reason people chose Inkdrop is:
Support Windows, macOS, Linus and mobile.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Powerful search syntax
nvALT has a simple text box at the top (similar to that of a web browser) and when you start typing inside it, nvALT immediately displays a drop-down box of all the notes that contain the text you are searching for. The more you type, the more the search is narrowed down.
Pro Lightweight
Pro Free

Pro MultiMarkdown 3 support
Has built-in support for MultiMarkdown 3.
Pro Powerful note-taking features
nvALT is not only used for simple text editing but also as a powerful tool for taking notes, TODOs, phone numbers and every other piece of information that can be stored in a plain-text file.
This is because nvALT is not designed only as a tool to write text, but also as a powerful search and organize tool for plain-text files.
Pro Right to Left support
Pro Cross-platform support
Support Windows, macOS, Linus and mobile.
Pro Extensible
Pro Syntax highlighting, multiple themes out of box
Pro Markdown support
Pro Distraction free mode
Pro Supports Mathematical Equations
Pro Ability to draw Sequence Diagrams
Pro Plugins add extra functionality and themes
Pro Public API
More things could be done via its powerful API support.
Pro Global search and tag feature
Cons
Con Not very powerful as far as text editing goes
nvALT's strength is its search feature. It has some basic text-editing features such as cut, paste, find-and-replace and so on. But it doesn't have any advanced text manipulation features available in other editors.
Con Expensive
$9.80 per month is a lot for a note-taking app
Con Only subscription-based
Can not buy it straight up.
